An aircraft or an aircraft control station may be equipped with at least one display that presents an electronic moving map. It is important to display updated obstacle information to flight crew members via the electronic moving map. Some systems use an onboard database of obstacles to identify the location of obstacles relative to the aircraft and represent those obstacles on the electronic moving map. These types of databases are typically updated on a 14 day cycle. However, it can take up to a year for new obstacles to make it into the database; temporary obstacles (e.g., cranes) may never make it into the database; and obstacles in the database may have temporary changes (e.g., loss of lighting on a tower). These types of deficiencies in the database are handled by Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) communications which provide text-based descriptions of new, temporary, or unlighted obstacles.
It is the responsibility of the flight crew to be aware of all NOTAM communications related to obstacles which are not currently represented in the obstacle database. For example, NOTAM communications may be printed out or communicated to a flight crew member's mobile device (e.g., smartphone, tablet, notebook computer, wearable device, media player, or the like). Consequently, the flight crew member is required to commit the information to memory or look back and forth between the electronic map display and the text-based descriptions of the NOTAM communications. There is a need for a system that integrates NOTAM communications and other obstacle data into one display that can be viewed by the flight crew.